When the mask breaks, what lies beneath?
When you’re a young mother living in a small town miles away from friends and family, boredom and loneliness are part of the job description. So when Tracy receives an unexpected call from the beautiful and elegant Kate Hensley, she jumps at the chance to get out of the house and share the company of another woman. But Kate is everything Tracy isn’t, and she finds herself questioning Kate’s motives in extending the invitation. When a chance meeting turns their expedition sour, Tracy gets her answer, but it’s not one she’s expecting…
A fascinating tale of human faults, fears, and frailty, What Friends Are For is the fourth instalment in the surprising and darkly humorous Crossing the Divide short story series, and a prequel to the novel, Taking the Plunge.
Here’s what readers are saying about it:
“J.B. Reynolds is a fine craftsman of short stories, and What Friends Are For is probably the best so far. Full of brilliant and darkly funny turns of phrase, Reynolds really has a way to make you cheer for the ‘hero’, even if they’re not always likeable.”
“J.B. Reynolds creates two extremely different female characters and shows us that life isn’t perfect, nor is life terrible, despite what we may see on the outside. This had everything I was looking for… definitely worth the read.”
“Two lonely young mothers – one rich, beautiful and pious, the other poor, foul-mouthed and worn out – finally meet heart-to-heart and are able to empathise. This engaging short story is a clever character study of two very different women.”